


Establishing Boundaries

by assphixiate



Category: Aldnoah.Zero (Anime)
Genre: Consent Issues, Kink Negotiation, M/M, safe words
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-03
Updated: 2015-01-03
Packaged: 2018-03-05 05:45:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 653
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3108290
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/assphixiate/pseuds/assphixiate
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Inaho has noticed Slaine has been distant in the bedroom. It seems he's just having a hard time vocalizing his desires.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Establishing Boundaries

**Author's Note:**

> It's been years since I've written any kind of fiction, fan or otherwise. This is kind of a prequel to an explicit work I plan to write. It just wound up being a bit longer than an intro for my taste.

Inaho blinked. He was staring expectantly at the back of Slaine’s head. He wasn’t sure what had gone wrong. One moment ago they’d been kissing, caressing, groping—the next the blond was pushing him off and edging away from him to the other side of the bed. The sight of his lover’s slumped shoulders as he deliberately turned away from him got him thinking. He realized that lately there had been this heavy tension, this discomfort when they had sex. The only issue was he couldn’t figure out the cause.

“Did I do something wrong?” Inaho asked tentatively. His voice was calm, but he was worried nonetheless. He wasn’t great at expressing his emotions and he hoped it didn’t come across as cold or uncaring.

“It’s not that,” Slaine murmured softly. Inaho noticed he was trembling ever-so-slightly. He silently hoped he wasn’t the cause of his trepidation. Now his mind was filled with reflection, trying to figure out what he was doing that was the cause of his boyfriend’s stress.

“I’ve actually been… meaning to talk to you,” the blond confessed, finally turning his head over his shoulder to peek at Inaho apprehensively.

The brunet shifted closer, positioning himself next to Slaine on edge of the mattress. He remained at a slight distance, not wanting to impose his presence too hastily.

“What is it?”

“It’s just that…” Slained trailed off, absentmindedly biting his lip. Inaho’s focus trailed to his mouth as he spoke. “I want… uhm…”

Inaho waited for him to continue. He was extremely patient and he cared about Slaine, so he sat there motionlessly, quietly. He wasn’t expecting Slaine to reach out and grip his shirt, pulling him closer. He tilted his head downward as the blond buried his face into his chest; his ears were bright red so he could only assume he was blushing furiously.

“I want you to h-h—“ Slaine stuttered, but he sounded almost angry, frustrated. Unlike Inaho, he was quite emotional. He always seemed to second guess himself, his thoughts, his words. There always seemed to be a lot of deep-seated shame holding him back from whatever he wanted to say. But finally, he managed to verbalize: “Hurt me.”

“Hurt you?” Inaho responded, his eyebrows raising slightly on his otherwise stoic face.

“Yes,” Slaine growled. Now that he’d finally said it, he seemed irked by Inaho’s lack of understanding.

“What do you mean, exactly?” the brunet pressed on. He liked things to be pretty clear before doing them when it came to their relationship; he certainly didn’t want Slaine to resent him.

“Like when we…”

“Fuck?”

Slaine let out a humiliated grown and turned away again, appearing defeated. “Just forget it…”

This time Inaho gripped his shoulder, tugging him back towards him. “No, it seems important to you,” he stated, gazing down into those clear blue eyes. “I just want to do it right.”

Though Slaine averted his focus to the bed sheets, he seemed to relax slightly under Inaho’s hands. “I don’t want to force you,” he sighed. There’s that shame again.

“I don’t mind. As long as you feel good, I’m content,” Inaho stated honestly. He noticed the burning on Slaine’s cheekbones but he continued. “But I don’t want to push you too far, either. How about a safe word?”

Slaine seemed extremely taken aback by the ease in which Inaho traversed this subject. “A safe word? Like what?”

“So when you want me to stop, just say something like… 'Orange-kun, please don’t?'”  Inaho’s lip curled into a slight smile, fully predicting the look of disbelief that contorted Slaine’s features.

“Are you kidding me?”

“Do I ever kid?”

“F-Fine, if you go too far… I’ll just say Orange…” Slaine narrowed his eyes at the look of satisfaction on Inaho’s face. With a huff, he fell back on the bed, seemingly emotionally exhausted by the conversation. “Okay?”

“Okay,” and Inaho leaned down to kiss him.


End file.
